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Book Club

Paradise

1970s · October 2026

Overview

Paradise (1997) is Toni Morrison’s seventh novel and her first after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. The novel completes a trilogy that begins with Beloved and includes Jazz. Each of the three novels explores themes of memory, the aftermath of slavery, violence, and, according to Morrison, “love excesses [and] distortions.”

Paradise tells the stories of two isolated communities, each one pursuing its vision of “paradise.”  The first is the all-black town of Ruby, Oklahoma, its citizens, it founders, its reason for being, and the difficulties it has trying to maintain its identity as it heads into the 1970s. The second is the Convent, a place, seventeen miles south of Ruby, that was formerly a pleasure house for an embezzler, then a convent school where nuns educated Native American girls, and is now a place of shelter and refuge for troubled women, where they can live removed from the oppressive circumstances of their pasts and the judgments of society.

In a 1998 interview with Charlie Rose, Morrison described the town of Ruby as “representative of a whole lot of towns that were founded in Oklahoma and other places after Reconstruction around the turn of the century. . . . It is an all-black town looking for a place where they don’t have to respond to white terror or intervention, where they can be all that they can be, where they can be secure, . . . in a closed haven totally isolated so that they can grow and blossom . . ..” She describes the Convent as “shelter from aggravated lives, from brutality or from their [the women’s] own secrets and their own personal demons . . . so, they all live there in some chaos, some dysfunction, but together . . ..” The novel follows what ensues when the men of Ruby perceive that their “haven” is being threatened.

The novel’s first sentence is “They shoot the white girl first. With the others they can take their time.” However, throughout the novel, Morrison never specifically identifies any of the women at the Convent by race. She explains in the “Forward” of the novel: “With these opening sentences I wanted to signal 1) the presence of race as hierarchy and 2) its collapse as reliable information.” In the “Introduction” to the new Vintage International edition of Paradise, author Tommy George explains: “[Morrison] never tells us which one is white. She does this on purpose. She forces us to realize that it doesn’t matter. In the end, the violence of exclusion doesn’t care about the specific shade of your skin.”

The present-day action of Paradise takes place in 1976, and the narrative’s nonlinearity takes the reader backward and forward in time, from 1890, when a town called Haven, the predecessor of Ruby, was founded, up to 1976. The book is structured in nine sections. The first section is titled “Ruby” after the town that is at the center of the narrative. The subsequent eight sections are named for specific women that are involved in the life of the town and/or the Convent. In telling their respective stories, Morrison unfolds the parallel histories of the town of Ruby and the Convent, and how the two communities ultimately collide.

The novel’s circular narrative structure (the story begins and ends with same event) highlights the themes of gender dynamics, racial purity, power, and inclusion and exclusion. Paradise is firmly rooted in the African American literary tradition, combining the genres of historical fiction and social realism, with allusions to the Black oral tradition, the Bible, and Greek mythology, and drawing on magical realism (“enchantment,” as Morrison refers to it) and folklore/myth to explore the history, culture, and social dynamics of an all-black town in rural Oklahoma and to, as Morrison states, “interrogate . . . the whole idea of paradise.”

Background Knowledge and Historical Contexts

The optional readings and videos below provide some historical context which may be useful when reading the novel.

Questions/Topics to Consider While Reading

  • Family, Legacy, and Heritage: What is the significance of the Nativity play in the chapter “Patricia”? What does the school nativity play tell us about the way Ruby sees itself and mythologize itself? Why does Pat Best burn all her research on the history of the Ruby and Haven families? How has the history of Ruby (and Haven before it) shaped the nature of the town in the 1970s? What did “freedom” mean to the original settlers? What varying views of freedom do the modern inhabitants of Ruby hold? The conservative elements in Ruby ultimately find it impossible to keep the impact of the Sixties from affecting their town. What “Sixties” ideas turn out to be the most powerful, the most resonant, for the people of Ruby? Do these ideas destroy the town’s social cohesion or give it new strength?
  • Community: Discuss the significance of community in Paradise. What defines a community, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of Ruby’s community model? What is the significance of the Convent in the story? How do the women at the Convent represent a different kind of community compared to Ruby? What does it represent for different characters? Analyze the concept of leadership and authority in Ruby. Who holds power, and how do they wield it? Why is the Oven such an important symbol for the people of Ruby? What is implied in the various phrases which different groups in Ruby want to inscribe upon it? Soane believes that the Oven has become too important a symbol (pp. 103-04). Is she right? What new ways of thinking do Rev. Richard Misner and the younger generation of Ruby represent? How are these “modern” ways of thinking received by the older generation of Ruby? How does the death of Sweetie and Jeff Fleetwood’s daughter Save-Marie subtly change Ruby? What sort of a future do you envision for the town? Is it possible to see the murders at the Convent as ultimately helping Ruby to evolve and to survive?
  • Gender and Relationships: Examine the portrayal of gender roles in Ruby. How are women viewed and treated by the town’s patriarchal society? How does this ultimately influence what happens to the women at the Convent? What internal conflict is Dovey struggling with regarding her husband Steward and their life together? Contrast the relationship that Connie has with Mary Magna with the relationship she has with Deek? What is the significance of each relationship to her? Analyze the relationships between mothers and daughters in the novel? How are these relationships pivotal to character development and overall plot? What meaning can we infer from the recurring theme of women walking the road between Ruby and the Convent?
  • History, Race/Racism, and America: Explore the role of history and memory in the novel. How do past events influence the characters’ present actions and beliefs? How does Morrison address issues of race and racism in Paradise? Is it fair to say that the people of Ruby have perpetuated racism in the town that was supposed to be a haven from it? If so, in what does the town’s racism consist?
  • Identity and Naming: What is the importance of names and naming in the novel? Consider how the names of places and people contribute to the narrative. How does the novel explore the them of identity? How do characters’ identities evolve throughout the story? In what ways does the exploration of women’s names in Patricia’s project address themes of identity and agency?
  • Themes and Motifs: What are the different visions of “paradise” or “utopia” presented in the novel? How does the concept of paradise/utopia evolve throughout the novel? How does Morrison portray the theme of belonging and exclusion/otherness within the community of Ruby? Who is considered an “other” in the novel, and why? What are the consequences of exclusion? Explore the theme of forgiveness and redemption. Which characters seek redemption, and how do they go about achieving it? Discuss the use of biblical references and religious themes in Paradise. How do these elements influence the moral undertones of the story?
  • Symbolism, Imagery, Metaphors: Dovey, Soane, and Consolata are all visited by “friends”? Are these friends real or imagined? What is the significance of these visitations, and what do they help us to better understand about each woman? What does the imagery of the ‘couple making love in the desert’ reflect in terms of the overarching themes in the chapter “Grace”? How does the imagery of the cross function within the novel? At the Convent, the women dance in the rain and reconcile themselves, finally, to the tragedies in their lives (283). Why does Morrison use, here, the imagery of baptism? Does she imply that this dance is a true baptism, that the Convent has achieved a more genuine spirit of community than the town? Who is the Piedade to whose company Consolata returns after her death (318)? What is the metaphorical significance of the door and window that Rev. Misner and Anna notice as they leave the Convent? Why do you think they choose not to open it?
  • Morrison’s Writing Style: How does the opening line, “They shoot the white girl first,” set the tone for the rest of the novel? What expectations does it create? How does the novel’s setting (both time and place) enhance or affect the story? Discuss the impact of setting on the plot development. How does Morrison critique social norms and expectations through her characters? Consider how characters either conform to or rebel against societal expectations. Discuss the ending of Paradise. Was it effective? What message does Morrison leave the reader with?

Additional Readings and Interviews (Optional)

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